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Last Post call during strike 'low': Qantas

Belinda Merhab

Qantas says two union representatives stood to observe a minute's silence while the Last Post was played during an engineers' strike.

A row has erupted over the playing of the Last Post over the public announcement system at a maintenance facility at Melbourne Airport during a 60-second strike on Friday.

The airline says it was a disrespectful use of the Last Post.

The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) says it is unaware of the Last Post being played.

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The airline though says two ALAEA representatives stood during a Fair Work Australia hearing and observed a minute's silence while the Last Post was played at the facility.

"Using the Last Post to make a point during a pay dispute is a new low," Qantas said in a statement on Monday.

"Qantas management are appalled at this disrespectful act and are currently investigating."

The union said employees it had spoken to were unaware of the Last Post being played.

"The union's secretary Steve Purvinas has spoken to a number of engineers rostered during last Friday's one-minute stoppage and none of those persons were aware of this event," the union said in a statement.

"If it did occur in a different location the ALAEA would have expected the airline to take immediate disciplinary action against that person however this has not occurred."

The union's general manager Peter Somerville would not confirm or deny the claim that two representatives observed one minute's silence, saying he did not want to trivialise the dispute.

"I really don't want to trivialise the whole larger dispute that's going on by getting bogged down in silliness like that from a major Australian corporate," he said.

"That just trivialises the whole serious matter of what's happening to Qantas and the fate of Australian skills and jobs.

"I think that type of comment from Qantas is pretty out of order really."

He said the union was taking into account the grounding of Tiger Airways before planning any further industrial action.

"We'll be watching the situation with Tiger and deciding our future action so as to minimise disruptions," he said.

Qantas says the union is demanding unreasonable pay rises and wants to preserve outdated work practices.

But the union says the main sticking point in negotiations is job security and the airline's unwillingness to invest in the industry at home.